Chapter 3
1A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.2O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy.3God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan: His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.4His brightness shall be as the light; horns are in his hands: There is his strength hid:5Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth before his feet.6He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.7I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of the land of Madian shall be troubled.8Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy horses: and thy chariots are salvation.9Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which thou hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the earth.10The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands.11The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering spear.12In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath thou wilt astonish the nations.13Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked: thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.14Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of him that devoureth the poor man in secret.15Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many waters.16I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that are girded.17For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.18But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.19The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms. [Note 1] "Burden": Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as threaten grievous evils and punishments. [Note 11] "Then shall his spirit": Viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon. It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Dan. 4., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire. [Note 1] "Will stand": Waiting to see what the Lord will answer to my complaint, viz., that the Chaldeans, who are worse than the Jews, and who attribute all their success to their own strength, or to their idols, should nevertheless prevail over the people of the Lord. The Lord's answer is, that the prophet must wait with patience and faith: that all should be set right in due time; and the enemies of God and his people punished according to their deserts. [Note 5] "As wine deceiveth": Viz., by affording only a short passing pleasure; followed by the evils and disgrace that are the usual consequences of drunkenness; so shall it be with the proud enemies of the people of God; whose success affordeth them only a momentary pleasure, followed by innumerable and everlasting evils. [Note 6] "Thick clay": Ill-gotten goods, that, like mire, both burden and defile the soul. [Note 13] "Are not these things": That is, shall not these punishments that are here recorded, come from the Lord upon him that is guilty of such crimes.-- Ibid. [Note 13] "The people shall labour": Viz., the enemies of God's people. [Note 17] "The iniquity of Libanus": That is, the iniquity committed by the Chaldeans against the temple of God, signified here by the name of Libanus. [Note 1] "For ignorances": That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew, it is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or tune; with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung. [Note 2] "Thy hearing": That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful things thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential fear and awe.-- Ibid. [Note 2] "Thy work": The great work of the redemption of man, which thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years, when our calamities and miseries shall be at their height. [Note 3] "God will come from the south": God himself will come to give us his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33. 2. [Note 4] "Horns": That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase, are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands. Or it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of Christ were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he overcame the world, and drove out death and the devil. [Note 5] "Death shall go before his face": Both death and the devil shall be the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites. [Note 6] "He beheld": One look of his eye is enough to melt all the nations, and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth disappear when they come before his light. Apoc. 20. 11. Ibid. [Note 6] "The ancient mountains": By the mountains and hills are signified the great ones of the world, that persecute the church, whose power was quickly crushed by the Almighty. [Note 7] "Ethiopia": the land of the Blacks, and Madian, are here taken for the enemies of God and his people: who shall perish for their iniquity. [Note 8] "With the rivers": He alludes to the wonders wrought heretofore by the Lord in favour of his people Israel, when the waters of the rivers, viz., of Arnon and Jordan, and of the Red Sea, retired before their face: when he came as it were with his horses and chariots to save them when he took up his bow for their defence, in consequence of the oath he had made to their tribes: when the mountains trembled, and the deep stood with its waves raised up in a heap, as with hands lifted up to heaven: when the sun and the moon stood still at his command, etc., to comply with his anger, not against the rivers and sea, but against the enemies of his people. How much more will he do in favour of his Son: and against the enemies of his church? [Note 13] "The head of the house of the wicked": Such was Pharao heretofore: such shall Antichrist be hereafter. [Note 15] "Thou madest a way in the sea": To deliver thy people from the Egyptian bondage: and thou shalt work the like wonders in the spiritual way, to rescue the children of the church from their enemies. [Note 16] "I have heard": Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the wicked.-- Ibid. [Note 16] "That I may go up to our people": That I may join the happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is, prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus, that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.